LES DEMIMONDES
You can lead a whore to culture but you can t make her think. Dorothy Parker
Why would you need to lead a whore to culture when culture relentlessly pursues whores? Sasha Van Bon Bon
Join the Scandelles for the summer workshop of Les Demimondes, a multidisciplinary theatre project which explores how arts and media culture profit so handily from the scandalous cachet of sex workers while sex workers themselves remain marginalized and criminalized, including in Canada, where sex work is legal, even if the laws around it sections 210 to 213 of our criminal code make it dangerous and difficult to work safely. Prescient when it was first workshopped in 2005, Les Demimondes is timely now with Toronto lawyer Alan Young preparing to challenge Canada s constitution as it pertains to sex work laws in the fall of 2009. Through cabaret a form of theatre that has consistently tackled political issues it looks at the history of sex work as it has been presented in the arts and the media and is hosted by Sasha Van Bon Bon as Eva, the Oldest Living Prostitute. Les Demimondes posits the question: Why is acceptable to make a living painting a whore, writing about a whore, singing about a whore or photographing a whore yet being a whore is criminal?
The show seeks to educate the public about the realities of sex work while pointing out the double standard that exists when the industry is blithely and profitably recorded by the arts and media.
The workshop is intended to continue the Scandelles growth as a group of artist activists, in this specific case ones opposed to the criminalization of sex workers.
If you are interested in attending the August 16th showing of Les Demimondes, please email sasha@eyeweekly.com
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